A Los Angeles mother and daughter were each sentenced to four years in prison Thursday for the involuntary manslaughter of an unsuspecting porn star who was given an illegal butt lift.
Libby Adame, 53, and Alicia Galaz, 26, appeared in Los Angeles Superior Court where they were sentenced in connection with the death of Karissa Rajpaul, a 26-year-old South African actress.
Rajpaul, an aspiring adult film star, died in hospital hours after Adame and Galaz injected her buttocks with liquid silicone at a Los Angeles home in October 2019.
Mother and daughter appeared in court for the sentencing in perfectly coiffed hairstyles and stunning suits, Adame in camel and Galaz in hot pink.
Both were ashen as they were handcuffed by deputies and taken to jail.
Until their arrest in August 2021, the pair ran a business that offered plastic surgery to women for cash at low prices in patients’ homes — despite not being trained or licensed to perform the procedures.
Prosecutors said Adame and Galaz offered butt lifters to hundreds of customers.
Rajpaul had undergone two similar buttock surgeries by the women before her fateful encounter. She even posted a video of herself on social media during one of the operations, after moving from South Africa to California in search of work.
Adame and Galaz charged Rajpaul $3,500 to $4,000 for her surgery, while a certified butt lift would run her $10,000 to $15,000. according to NBC4.
During the third procedure, Raipaul became immediately ill and passed out as the chemicals entered her blood and caused an embolism.
When complications arose during the procedure, Adame and Galaz called 911 and frantically left the house. First responders arrived and took Rajpaul to the hospital, where she died later that day.
“The suspects fled the scene without identifying themselves or informing the paramedics about the cosmetic surgery.[…] As a result, the victim died in an emergency room with attending physicians ignoring the silicone injection,” the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said in a statement after the two charges were filed.
LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton added: “These individuals have no medical training. They are not experienced and put people’s lives at risk.”
The exact cause of death was later determined to be acute cardiopulmonary dysfunction and intramuscular/intravenous silicone injections.
Prosecutors argued that both should have known about the dangers of silicone injections because Galaz was working at a hair salon in 2018 when another patient died after a butt lift procedure performed by one of her colleagues. reports Newsweek.
Defense barrister Nareg Gourjian told jurors the pair bore no malice towards Rajpaul and were unaware of the dangers.
“Do you think killing people is a way to build a successful business?” he said, according to The Orange County Register.
“They wanted to do a good job.”
Silicone injections are not approved for use in cosmetic procedures in the US, and the Food and Drug Administration has warned against them since at least 2017.
“Silicone injections can lead to long-term pain, infections and serious injuries such as scarring and permanent disfigurement, embolism [blockage of a blood vessel]stroke and death,” the regulator said.
It is estimated that one in 3,000 patients have died as a result of the “Brazilian butt lift”.
The procedure, known as BBL after the nationality of the doctor who is said to have invented it, usually involves injecting fat into the buttocks to reshape and add volume.
The treatment has the highest mortality rate of all cosmetic procedures, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
Adame and Galaz were initially slapped with charges of second-degree murder, but later downgraded to the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter because the jury believed the mother and daughter did not act with malice when they injected their victim.
Adame was also found guilty of three counts of performing a medical procedure without a license, while Galaz was found guilty of two counts of the same crime. Both women had pleaded not guilty.
The jury reached their verdict after deliberating for about seven hours.
